It’s time to cut through the fog of confusion that surrounds choosing and eating seafood. Sustainable seafood can be enjoyed in such a way that our personal health and the health of the oceans are of equal consideration. There are lots of sustainable seafood options to be had but how do we identify them?

Becky Selengut and Barton Seaver

East coast meets West coast for this fun and informative sustainable seafood presentation with Becky Selengut, our own local fish whisperer, and Barton Seaver, who’s visiting from D.C. While cooking is a hands on activity that engages all your senses, these two chefs have also engaged their minds and ethics in the process without finger pointing at those of us who are still learning about sustainable seafood. We can benefit from their research and hours in the kitchen by reading the sustainable seafood cookbooks each chef released in Spring of 2011

The evening’s conversation will appeal to folks who receive their information in many different ways, from slow as the printed word to speedy as devices can deliver. As part of the presentation our chefs, led by edibleSEATTLE editor Jill Lightner, will talk about how technology allows them to engage with eaters who may be new to seafood and not necessarily cookbook readers who specifically sought out a sustainable seafood book. Love your smartphone? Smart and sassy blog and Facebook posts, Tweets, websites and YouTube videos by Becky and Barton are just a click away.

Or perhaps you would rather meander printed pages that are glossy with images of seafood briny and sweet from the ocean? A person can pick up either chefs’ cookbook and get the full story – recipes with a dash of science sprinkled in as seasoning. Pick up your copy of For Cod & Country, Barton’s cookbook or Good Fish, Becky’s cookbook after the presentation.

What might you learn from our chefs? Both Becky and Barton encourage us to eat a variety of fish besides the perennial favorites of shrimp, salmon and tuna.

Eating a variety of seafood protects the health of humans and fish populations. Creating a marketplace demand for many types of fish eases the pressure on the whole ocean food web by spreading harvest efforts over many species and not over fishing a one popular fish.

An example? Small silver fish – once popular, then over fished due to market demand but on the rise again – just might make it back to everyone’s dinner plate as Barton and Becky’s followers learn from reading a computer screen or a cookbook page about recipes that balance the fishes intense flavor so the rich, nutritional qualities of these environmentally friendly fish are enjoyed.

And in or out of a tin, we need to get over our national suspicion of small silver fish; they are delicious, not scary! Join us on Monday October 17th and we’ll talk about it.